Knees strewn with gold thread

When doctors examined an X-ray image of the knees of a woman experiencing severe joint pain, they found a gold mine: hundreds of tiny gold acupuncture needles left in her tissue.

The 65-year-old South Korean woman had previously been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, a condition in which the cartilage and bones within the joints degrade, causing pain and stiffness. But when pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs didn’t alleviate the pain in her knees and only caused stomach discomfort, she had turned to acupuncture, the doctors wrote last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

It is presumed they are made of gold and were left there intentionally for “continued stimulation”. Doctors note this is a REALLY BAD idea. Not only is there no scientific evidence that this form of acupuncture works or does anything resembling what they claim, it’s also dangerous. The needles may migrate and damage other parts, they can cause a reaction or infection as the body tries to get rid of the foreign object and they make Xrays hard to read. This picture is insane! Look at how tiny they are!

The insertion of small pieces of sterile gold thread around the joint by means of acupuncture needles has been used commonly in the treatment of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis in Asian countries.

Let me be clear: This has not been shown to work, it’s dangerous and it’s not recommended at a viable treatment by medical doctors.